Hello everyone, sorry for the slow notes recently, but I'm just worn out recently. Probably some bad habits and such. I'll try to get my act together next week and come up with some better notes for this week soon, but for now, just enjoy while I take a nap, or at least try to...

"This is the choice you made?"

"This world doesn't belong to them."

"You betray us for this?"

"You can't have cast your lot with them!"

"What have you done?"

As Ryo sat cross-legged on the secret terrace that Queen Arryn had informed him of, he once again gave silent thanks to her majesty for sharing such a private, isolated location with him. For as spacious as it was, consisting of two curved marble benches and grass on a twenty-foot semi-circle (guarded with marble railings of course), it was completely out of any sightline that Ryo could see. What's more, so far no one else came here, and the solitude was more than welcomed.

Whatever spare moment he could get was spent on the terrace, and most of the time spent on the terrace was spent meditating, though he did wish he could bring his sword here. While he did practice his swordsmanship on the castle's practice field, he didn't like being watched. He also didn't like practicing his hand-to-hand skills out there either, since those were too wrapped in his magic and would look odd, with or without said magic. So, he was stuck with meditating. He'd initially been surprised by the comforting familiarity of the exercise. He'd expected it to be much harder to focus but so far, he'd been able to slip into a meditative state quite easily.

With a deep breath, he closed his eyes and let himself sink into a calm, empty place. When he opened his eyes, he was now in a near-empty void, with his power floating in front of him, contained within a purple sphere surrounded by rings of black wisps. He wasn't sure whether or not this was how it would naturally look to him now, or if it was influenced by the Queen's hypothesis regarding his condition. Either way, this was how it looked now and he needed to figure out how to rectify that.

'Moving towards' his power didn't work, instead rendering him ill, so instead all his sessions had been spent trying to change the perception, to deepen the detail of his vision. So far, he hadn't had any luck, but Ryo found he didn't mind that much. He wouldn't say it was fun or enjoyable work, but he could while away many hours at a time in that state.

Today, he was once again trying to approach his magic without drawing on it and triggering an episode. It was extremely contrary thinking, to manipulate your magic without manipulating your magic, but he pressed on regardless.

His experimentation lasted hours, but eventually he decided enough was enough and rose to his feet, opening his eyes as the veil of meditation slipped away to reveal the terrace and the sky stretching out before him.

"It's so much like then…" He thought to himself. He could almost smell the air, hear the whistle of the wind through the grass, feel the breeze on his face, see the sunsets…

"No. We don't go back there anymore."

Ryo immediately shoved those memories aside before the cold knot in his chest could grow any larger. He was done with meditating for today.

The sun was a little way's past noon, so he decided to head back into the castle proper to get something to eat. He strode through the castle swiftly, politely inclining his head to the servants, guards and occasional magicians he passed along the way, until he eventually reached the group's room. Garren and Barkos were both already inside, the former working on his own lunch and the latter reading a book from the library.

Once he was inside, he rang for a servant and politely requested something with fish for lunch and thanked them as they swiftly departed before turning back to his friends.

"How's the food?" Ryo asked as he took a seat at an unoccupied desk.

"Excellent." Garren replied after he swallowed. "It's gonna be really hard to go back to cooking food on the road after this."

"That's assuming we're ever allowed back on the road." Barkos remarked as he turned a page in his book. "Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the nice beds, the nice food and palace life in general, but I'd rather not also be a technical prisoner at the same time."

It was a sentiment Ryo shared, though he kept quiet about it.

"What are you reading?" He inquired as he waited for his lunch to arrive.

"At the moment, I'm studying traps and snares. I thought I'd try to learn some new ones while I had the opportunity." The hunter replied. Ryo was sometimes surprised how he could forget one aspect of Barkos when the other was at the forefront. He didn't really change all that much in terms of personality, but if you put him in his cloak and quiver with bow in hand, you could forget his studious nature. And conversely, you put him in an environment such as this, and you could forget that he was a trained hunter and trapper.

"I didn't think you'd be looking into snares and traps when you have that wide a variety of books at your disposal." Ryo commented.

"This is one of the few books that I'm actually allowed to leave the library with." He explained as he turned his attention back to the book. Ryo figured he wouldn't be getting much out of Barkos until that book was shut, so he turned his attention back to Garren.

"Have you been training today?" He asked the larger boy, who shook his head

"Not yet. I decided to try studying up on some techniques for fighting with axes before I went down there again. One of the captains occasionally gives me pointers, but I haven't gotten any formal training. I need to improve before we head out again." Garren answered as he set his plate aside.

"I'm thinking of putting some work in at the practice field myself. Want to join me after I eat?" Ryo offered. Garren paused as he considered the offer.

"Sure, why not? I can let the food settle a little before we start." He decided. That was never a problem for Ryo, but he could imagine how that would be the case for others.

The two of them idly chatted while Barkos continued to pore over his book until a knock at the door heralded the arrival of Ryo's lunch. He ate in silence, trying to finish his meal quickly, though he did his best to avoid undue haste. He wasn't incapable of getting sick from poor eating habits, after all.

Soon enough, his meal was finished and he arranged for a servant to bring the dirty dish and cutlery back to the kitchens before departing for the practice field with Garren. When they arrived, they grabbed a wooden sword and axe respectively and approached an empty area of the field before getting into their stances.

"You ready?" Ryo asked as he gave his practice blade a flourish to warm up a little before holding it front of him with both hands. Garren smirked as he widened his stance and hefted the wooden axe.

"I think so. What about you?" He replied before he lunged forward, prompting Ryo to shuffle backwards while re-angling his blade. Garren poked at him with the axe, only for Ryo jab back with his sword. Normally this wouldn't be a problem for Garren, having a longer reach than Ryo, but his instincts told him to keep away from the mock weapon, which cost him as he backed off his charge, only for Ryo to rush in and throw him off with three quick strikes before sneaking past his guard and landing a stab to Garren's stomach.

"Point me." Ryo commented as he backed off and got back into his ready position.

"I'll even it out, just you watch." Garren replied as he twirled his axe and got ready once more. The two began to circle each other, waiting for the other to make a move. Suddenly, Garren lunged again, prompting Ryo to retreat a bit. However, this was just a fake out from Garren, who paused and went back to circling.

Deciding to take the initiative, Ryo performed his own lunge, which Garren decided to challenge with a downward swing from his axe! Ryo sidestepped it, but Garren quickly retreated and put his weapon between himself and Ryo, catching Ryo's counterattack on flat of his own blade! Ryo quickly pulled away as Garren rushed forward, performing an odd jab with his axe that Ryo caught with his blade before he pushed it off to the side, spinning and striking Garren in the side with the pommel of his sword. Stunned by the impact, Garren was left wide open for Ryo to swipe his sword up to the side of Garren's neck.

"Point me."

Garren grumbled a little as Ryo pulled his sword back from the larger boy's neck and stepped away.

"Feels like I'm never gonna beat you." He griped as he rubbed his sore spot on his side.

"Hey, what happened to that determination you had earlier?" Ryo asked as he adjusted his grip on the practice blade. "Besides, you're figuring out what you should and shouldn't be doing a lot faster than some of the people I've trained with before. Even if it isn't necessarily translating into practice, that's still a leg-up for you. You did a fair bit better in the second round than the first."

"Yeah, I know, you're right. I just don't feel like I can afford to give it time. It felt like it was one thing after another after Woodfell, and now all this silence has me twitchy." Garren muttered as he got ready for round three.

"Gotta say though," The larger boy started to say before he lunged at Ryo suddenly, who backpedaled out of the way. "You must have had some serious training to be this good. Must feel like old times, huh?"

Ryo's eyes flashed a bit; pain, fear and longing all filled his gaze for a brief moment, before he swiftly buried them.

"Old times are gone. Lingering in them doesn't do me or anyone else any good." He bit out before he launched a sudden and swift three-strike combination that forced Garren back in surprise.

"Yikes, nerve touched! Sorry!" He yelped. Ryo's eyes widened in recognition before he reigned himself in.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have lashed out like that." He apologized, face contrite and grim.

"I have better self-control than that." He thought bitterly, though he didn't have any more time to berate himself; Garren was advancing on him with his axe at the ready and a gleam in his eye.

They ended up going for twelve more rounds, with Ryo winning all of them. Still, Garren was undoubtedly making progress. Alarmingly so in fact, though that was only for eight of the rounds. They'd gotten longer and longer as time went on, and when they finished the latest round, Ryo realized that Garren was actually having a worse and worse showing, ever since about round eight. So, he decided to call it for the day. Besides, his own arms were burning pretty bad as well, which he freely admitted when Garren jokingly ribbed him for deciding he'd had enough of sparring for the day.

All in all, the spars covered a couple of hours, so while they were undoubtedly tired, there was still daylight to burn until dinner came around. Tired and sore as they were from training, the two boys decided to first spend some of that daylight in the bath-house.

"Ahh, that's the stuff…" Garren groaned appreciatively as he sank into the steaming water, clad in naught by a towel. Ryo joined him not soon after, a little slower since he was a little more sensitive to the heat. Still, he adjusted quickly enough and eased himself into the hot water and felt his muscles immediately begin soaking up the lovely heat.

"Maybe you should consider some additional equipment; Something to help you with defence." Ryo suggested as he shifted around to get comfortable.

"Maybe?" Garren pondered as he sank a little further into the water. "I'm just so used to using an axe two-handed that having something like a shield feels like it could get in the way. Still, you're not wrong. I know you're good with a sword, but I also know a good chunk of your wins today come from me struggling on defense."

Ryo nodded in agreement as he also ponded the problem. "There are quite a few shields and axes out there. I'm sure you could find a combination that suits you."

"I suppose… Maybe I'll see if I can get some thoughts or recommendations tomorrow." Garren considered before he let out a yawn and stretched his arms before laying them back on the edges of the bath. "So, what are you going to do with the rest of your day?"

"Probably head to the library and see if I can find anything interested, useful or both to read. Maybe I can borrow some of Veris' reading material if she doesn't need it." Ryo replied. If he didn't do that, he'd either go back to their room for a nap or head back to the terrace.

"What would you need to read about magic for?"

"Curiosity? Don't tell me you don't have a little."

"I guess, but not enough to spend time researching it; Better to spend time working on what I can or need to improve in, rather than what I can't. I can't just spend my days pretending I am or will be some great warrior hero anymore."

Garren's tone had dropped at this and Ryo's attention was quickly drawn to it.

"Everything alright?" He asked cautiously

"It's nothing. Just thinking about stuff…" Garren replied quickly. Ryo frowned a little, but opted to ease off and reclined a little in the water.

"If you don't want to talk about it, I'll leave it." He assured his friend as he closed his eyes. "That said I've had people telling me recently that telling people what's been going on lets them help you."

"What have 'people' been trying to get you to talk about?" Garren asked semi-jokingly, but also with genuine curiosity. Ryo felt a small jolt in his stomach, but it wasn't as bad as he'd thought.

"Just stuff from… before. I guess it kind of helps, or at least can get you aimed in the right direction. Still not sure I fully buy into it." He replied before he stretched and eased himself further down into the water to cover his shoulders and some of his neck.

The two sat in silence for a little while after before they decided they'd had enough and got out to dry off and get changed. Ryo did end up going to the library, though Veris and her books were nowhere to be found. Ryo's guess was that she was back in their room, though he had seen her talking with the Queen, so it was also possible she was giving her private lessons somewhere, possibly even in the private study Ryo had been in before.

Instead, Ryo finally caved and decided to find something in the history section, rather than hemming and hawing over it.

"I should at least try to learn about this stuff…" He muttered to himself as he began to check book after book until he finally found something interesting. It was old and falling into disrepair, but a quick check through indicated it was still perfectly legible.

"Wings of War… No credit for naming." Ryo muttered. Still, he had to start somewhere and name aside, this seemed like a decent start. Satisfied with his choice, Ryo made his way up to the third floor of the library and found a desk off in the corner and started reading.

Wings of War was indeed a book about the war between humans and the tsubasa no aru, but the content wasn't quite what Ryo was expecting. First off, and much to Ryo's surprise and annoyance, there wasn't any documentation on what had actually started the war, not even in passing. Either the author had assumed it was common enough knowledge to not need any mention, or they had deliberately omitted it for whatever reason.

Secondly, there wasn't much analysis for the actual battles that took place during the war, at least that Ryo could tell. He didn't know many details on the significant battles in the war, but he knew records of them shouldn't be this threadbare. He was starting to have second thoughts on his choice of reading material, despite his initial curiosity.

"Oh well, might as well stick with this for now. Maybe it won't be so bad once I get further in."

Unfortunately, his optimism was misplaced. Much as the author waxed poetic about the war and how destructive it was, there wasn't much for details on, for instance, why there was a war in the first place, what actions were taken in that war, who were significant figures within that war on either side of it. Ryo's opinion of the book was becoming more and more atrocious with every passing word.

Eventually, Ryo took to skimming through the chapters, reading bits and pieces as he tried to find something that at least looked interesting, but he was only met with more disappointment. At this point, he was only sticking with this book because he didn't want to go all the way back down to the history section to get another one.

Ryo let out a growl of frustration as he leaned back in his char and looked up at the library ceiling, which was covered in some abstract tile art and gold décor. If he kept trying to find something in that book that clearly wasn't there, he'd finally crack and do something irreparable to it, and that would undoubtedly land him in hot water with the palace at large.

"Why am I even bothering…" He wondered in silence as he kept staring up before he leaned forward and rubbed his eyes with his palms and let out a groan of tired annoyance, regretting not going to the terrace to meditate some more. At least it wouldn't be such a drag.

"Well, might as well give it one more pass before I give up…" Ryo decided as he started to turn his attention back to the book, only to be distracted by someone sitting at a desk nearby, staring at him. As soon as they noticed, they quickly turned their attention back to their reading material. Their expression didn't look very happy.

Now that he realized it, they were one of the palace mages; female, dirty blond hair, medium height and light weight by Ryo's estimate, though it was hard to tell due to the robes.

"Wonder what's got her in a bad mood…" Ryo wondered as he turned his attention back to the book and continued leafing through it. By this point, he was halfway through and there was no sign of improvement, per Ryo's expectations.

"Such was the destruction brought upon the lands, matched only by the plague that followed… Wait, plague?"

Ryo's eyes widened a little as he reread the passage and kept going.

"The plague was born of war and ravaged both sides in equal measure, drowning the world in pain and misery, turning ally against ally and eventually driving the winged army from the world… Why haven't I heard about this? This must not be common knowledge…" He murmured to himself as he continued onward. Unfortunately, there wasn't any more details that Ryo could find in the book that didn't cover what he already knew. Still, he had a lead he could work with, so he could at least say he hadn't wasted his time in the library. More unfortunately, he was starting to connect some details in his head, and did not like them one bit.

"It was a foolish kindness to leave the world to the craven and the treacherous!"

Ryo's hands tightened around the covers of the book as he squeezed his eyes shut and took three deep breathes before he forced the memory back down into the dark.

"Those words don't mean anything. They aren't coming back." He hissed to himself as he rose to his feet. The cold knot had returned, but it was slowly dissipating.

"We don't go back there…" Ryo reminded himself as he took one more breath to relax himself before he closed the book and rose to his feet and looked out a nearby window.

The sun was low enough in the sky to indicate that it was getting near dinner time and Ryo couldn't afford to be late. Once weekly they were invited (expected) to attend dinner with the king and queen, and Ryo needed to head back to the room before that to make sure he was presentable, as well as meet up with the others (they were better at telling if he was presentable or not).

Ryo rose to his feet, but suddenly felt a bit dizzy as he did so

By the time he got back to the room, Ryo was already pressed for time. He wasn't the only one who noticed either, given the scolding look he got from Veris. Ryo gave an apologetic bow of his head as he began checking himself over in the mirror near his bed to make sure everything was in place before turning to get a critique from the others.

Luckily, they all gave him a pass and the four of them bustled out the door and started making their way to dinner. As they went though, Ryo couldn't help but take notice of one of the magicians walking by; the same one that he'd caught glaring at him in the library.

"Suddenly I'm thinking that wasn't a coincidence." He thought to himself as he made a mental note to keep an eye out for her in the future. He really didn't want himself and the queen to have to explain how he knew about that terrace.

"Everything alright?"

Ryo's thoughts were quickly brushed aside by Veris' words of concern.

"I'm fine, just thinking." He replied easily as they approached the dining hall.

"Dangerous, that." Barkos jibed. Ryo resisted the urge to lightly elbow him for fear of ruining their presentability, instead just rolling his eyes as they turned another corner and continued on their way.

They ended up just barely making it on time, which Ryo promised himself he would never do again. Despite them having not suffered the consequences of it yet, the whole group had an odd fear of failing to adhere to the rules and conventions of being the impounded guests of the Radiant Garden Palace.

Luckily, no one seemed to notice, or at least was very good at covering up any judgement or disapproval they may have been feeling towards the four of them. Dinner went by quickly enough, with minimal chatter. Ryo kept an eye out for anyone who might have been monitoring the four of them, but he didn't notice anything suspicious this time.

"Must be someone acting on their own… Should I tell the queen about this?" Ryo thought to himself as he continued making his way through some perfectly cooked and seasoned chicken. "Maybe not yet… I'll keep an eye out and see if this is a case of stalking. Best not make trouble between the queen, the castle magicians and myself if I can avoid it."

Soon enough, dinner concluded and the group made their way back to their room, ready to unwind before heading to bed.

"So, what were you working on today?" Ryo asked Veris as the door to their room was shut.

"Oh, the queen was trying to show me how to use ice magic." Veris replied shortly. Based on her tone, it hadn't gone well.

"Finding it difficult?" Barkos inquired, getting a frustrated huff from Veris.

"I just can't figure it out! I've tried everything and I can't even get a snowflake! Two days ago, we tried thunder magic, and same thing! Not even a tiny spark!" She vented, throwing her hands in the air before letting them fall to her face and dragging her palms down to her cheeks. "I mean, fire's been so easy for me so far! Maybe I can get ice being difficult since it's the opposite of fire, but thunder?! It's more similar to fire than ice, and I can't get anything!"

"Maybe fire's all you have?" Garren wondered before he froze a little under Veris' glare.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She growled, prompting Ryo to intervene.

"There isn't anything wrong with having one type of magic, is there?" He asked, getting a frown from Veris in response.

"I think the rest of the magicians here being able to use at least three would have a different opinion on that." She muttered. Ryo shrugged.

"Well, you aren't them, are you?" He countered. "If fire's all you have, then make the most of that."

Veris glowered and grumbled, but she seemed to be at least considering his words as she grumpily stalked over to her bed and pulled out a book, signaling that the conversation was over. No one disagreed, so they all went about their own business until it was time for bed.

"What's everyone planning to do tomorrow?" Garren asked as he crawled under the covers.

"Not sure…" Ryo replied as he stretched and laid down, his thoughts turning to his discovery in the library, and the potential stalker he'd caught.

"But somehow, I feel like it's going to be eventful…"